Edition 004: Foreword
So the biggest thing to announce in this edition, aside from some great interviews and some great music and films without interviews, is that we have parted ways with the slightly convoluted PARTS. If you're new that will mean nothing to you. If you've come back after seeing a previous edition you may have noticed that everything is now on a single page so you don't have to click a PART link to get to the next set of pages.
We think this will make it easier, and more fun, to browse and read the magazine. And quicker as once the page is loaded all the content is there. We've also reduced the amount of pages in an edition to 21 so we can get editions out a little more quickly.
This is also, theoretically, our christmas edition but it's rather devoid of egg nog and misteltoe and in fact looks exactly like our non christmas editions. But given there's a weeks lull between the gluttony of christmas and the debauchery of New Year, you can read this... so that's nice dears, isn't it?
Index
01| Interview: Bill Ryder-Jones
04| Short Film: The Cassette
05| Wrap Your Ears...: Crushed Beaks, M+A, Girl Muscle
06| Audio Visual Art: A Moment Of Silence
07| Interview: Three Trapped Tigers
10| Bands You Should Hear: by Three Trapped Tigers
11| Gallery & Interview: Chloe Early
13| Short Film & Music: Syndromes
14| Mix Tape: Indie Mix
15| Album Review: Lil Daggers
16| Wrap Your Ears...: The Great Malarky, Gauntlet Hair, Internet Forever
17| Live Session & Interview: Arthur Jeffes
20| Live Review: Stephen Malkmus
21| Classic Album: Nina Simone
22| Credits: information about this edition
Eclipsed by a world famous city, just south of the Mersey River, lays a peninsula that quietly boasts a number of musical triumphs, including The Coral, a band that I have a real soft spot for, and probably always will. Formed in the neighbouring secondary school to myself, and having gathered considerable success through their eponymous first album in the early 2000s, they’re somewhat local heroes back in the Wirral.
Last year saw the release of “Butterfly House”, the band’s 6th studio album – but their first without lead guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones, who left in 2008. Since then, Ryder-Jones has clearly not just been killing time taking strolls in Royden Park, but developing his talents in composition and arranging, to create a musically ambitious album that is thoroughly involving and truly impressive.
Contrary to my somewhat naive presumptions, “If…” is a world away from anything I‘d heard Ryder-Jones feature on before, here with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra exalting his predominantly instrumental pieces. Based on a classic Italo Calvino novel, “If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller”, the album transports you to a transcendental space, where swirling string arrangements and romantic melodies are juxtaposed with explosions of rolling timpani, and moments of real intimacy and beauty.
This carefully constructed level of emotion throughout the record feels almost soundtrack-like, and from start to finish it boasts real diversity; from the closeness and fragility of tracks like Leaning (Star of Sweden) and Le Grand Desordre, to the menacing By The Church of Appolonia, or the passion and desperation of Intersect. And just when I’d come to terms with the lack of Ryder-Jones’ remarkable guitar playing, Enlace erupts in to a proggy (and rather Coral-esque) electric-guitar-driven rock n’ roll ruckus of intertwining solos, which, although fantastically incongruous with the rest of the album, sounds fucking brilliant, and continues to make me smile.
“If...” superbly showcases Ryder-Jones’ transformation from psychedelic indie/folk guitarist to mature and conscientious composer. The ambitious departure to an orchestral style has resulted in some extremely harmonically and melodically interesting pieces, which show real depth and musical understanding, with a poignancy, melodrama and originality that makes it impossible to ignore this album and its composer.
We were fortunate enough to have Bill answer some questions for us too, so to hear from this talented man, please read on:
ESS: You’ve expressed before how you see If… as a soundtrack to Calvino’s “If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller”. Did that concept come first as a basis to write the tracks
BR-J:
upon, or did you have musical ideas beforehand that led you to that understanding?
B: Yeah i wrote each of them specifically for the book, the only one that I had already was 'By The Church Of Apollonia' that was an instrumental called 'The Flowers'.
ESS: Do you have plans for any other works you'd like to use in a similar way to compose to?
B: Yeah I do, nothing concrete at the moment though. I'd like to work with someone my age, maybe a writer. It'd be nice to create something new together.
ESS: Was the change to largely instrumental, orchestral compositions something you had always wanted to explore, or was it a more organic progression you found yourself going through? And was it a conscious decision not to draw attention to your guitar playing, for which you are probably best known?
B: It was both a natural progression and something I'd always wanted to explore I guess, over the last few years I've found my love of the guitar and 'guitar music' dwindling a bit. I didn't make a conscious decision to not play that much guitar on it, I've just not been playing the guitar that much.
ESS: Your departure from The Coral came as quite a shock to fans, and although you've changed direction musically since then, would you consider collaborating with them in the future? And do you still keep in contact with them much?
B: I don't know really. I can't see it right now. I certainly don't want to be in a band ever again so I doubt there'll be a reunion in 15 years time, mind you they'd have to split up first I guess. I see nick most Thursday's as we play football together but I rarely see or speak to the others to be honest. It's not a big deal, people just grow apart don't they?
ESS: You've worked with The Last Shadow Puppets in the past; can
you tell us a little more about it? Miles Kane also went to Hilbre High School in West Kirby, was there any Wirral-based grounds behind this or was it purely coincidental?
B: Well they asked me to do it with them when the two of them had the idea in like 2006 or 2007 I can't remember. I said yeah at first but I had a think on it and decided against it. I'd only just come back to the band and it was all still a bit weird.
It would have been a pretty un-Coral thing to do to go and form another group or side project whilst still in the band. As for the tunes I played on, Al just rang and asked if i was around coz they were recording in town. That's how it works really, no great master plan or owt.
ESS: I think I saw you in the White Lion a few years ago... maybe on a Wednesday night, is that a favourite Wirral pub of yours? I saw James Skelly there a few times, and apparently a friend of mine met him in Big Al's in Hoylake. Isn't the Wirral great? Where was I? Oh yeah, references to the Wirral can be heard (and seen) in The Coral's catalogue of work, does it continue to play an important part in your music?
B: Oh right, I dunno. Last time I went in there was Christmas day like 5 years back I think. I'm not drinking at the moment so I haven't been to a pub in an age. I love and hate the Wirral at any one time, sometimes it's this untouched, quiet, suburban haven and sometimes it's full of Tory boys and rednecks. I've got this album that will be out start of next year that is meant to sum up my childhood and adolescence living on the Wirral.
ESS: Though you've indicated you prefer to avoid live performances if possible, have you any ambitions to perform your orchestral material live? (If you need volunteers for an orchestra: bagsy cello. Limited previous experience, but I'm a quick learner... I'll settle for piano if not.)
B: I think if I was to play if... Live the last thing I'd need is a blagger on cello. In seriousness I've no desire to perform to anyone ever again. I think I'd resent it.
ESS: Many thanks for your time and congratulations on a beautiful album, we really hope it does well for you.
B: Thanks very much. I really appreciate it pal.
We love this short. It is beautifully filmed, darkly and deliciously witty, intelligent and brings fond wistful memories about a medium now pretty much a thing of the past but for those of a certain age, a thing ingrained in our pasts.
Mostly though it is just brilliant short filmmaking.
It was originally created for a short film collection entitled 'The Secret Life Of Objects' which aired on 13th Street Uuniversal [website]. The filmmakers, François Roland & Josef Baar, took the remit of how household objects can become the instruments of human cruelty in a slightly absurd or surreal direction, whilst paying homage to an object that marked their childhoods, the cassette.
The pair have been working together for years and as well as making a couple of other equally beautiful shorts, they've also made a fair few stylish music videos for the likes of DJ Shadow, The Kills and Martina Topley Bird.
Talented lads. And sorry to labour a point, but make sure you watch this film, it is brilliant.
Crushed Beaks
Close Ups
THIS VIDEO CONTAINS STROBING
Never a bad thing making your video be flagged up with a warning. Everyone likes a little danger. Strangely though, the song itself sounds like it contains strobing and will, possibly, if you're very very lucky, fuck with your head a little... in a good way of course.
Dark, dirty, sonically scuzzy lo-fi rock that sounds like it was recorded in a large empty room... or rather a large room filled with the undead, destitute and morally deviant. It is a rather good listen.
They are a two-piece based in London with a building live reputation and this is their debut single. Apparently Abbey Road, where it was mastered, described it as irresponsibly loud. Which is cute, but couldn't the mastering engineer just have turned it down a little?
M+A
Bam
Italian electropop duo! Yep, I didn't hold much hope out for it either, but i was delightfully proved wrong. Personally I think the label the PR company gave them does them a disservice. The music is delightful and delicate, the vocals soft and whimsical, the melody lovely and within its 4 minutes are enough random ideas to make it stand above its peers a little.
Really liked the video as well. Nice and random and in keeping with the song, in a strange way.
This is from their debut album, 'Things. Yes', out now on Monotreme Records.
What a delightful interlude that was. Cheers guys.
Girl Muscle
Your Boyfriend
Trashy garage rock love songs from a cold and damp Welsh bedroom. That's how Dave describes his music. And Dave is Girl Muscle. He is also Steak Records, the indie label that released this. And he used to record under the name LtMeat (also good as it goes [website]). And Steak Records seems to be a home for meat obsessed (and red meat too) DIYers who DIY rather well.
In fact there's a whole heap of free EPs and LPs to download from the site from LtMeat and Beefcore, offering different flavours of garage rock from LtMeat and some odd electronica experimentation from Beefcore. So get over there and download, with no strings attached, these delightful free offerings. And of course, if you end up loving them, then pop back, say thanks and maybe buy something of theirs. DIY and mpFree is great, and the ethos is sound, but cold hard cash is never frowned upon as a reward for your endeavours.
Anyway, I digress. I like this Girl Muscle song and look forward to hoepfully hearing more.
A Moment In Silence is a rather beautiful animated audio visual work by Diana Reichenbach with a score by Thad Anderson. Diana is a designer, animator and instructor based in Los Angeles. In her own words this piece is, "A whimsical journey into the subconscious; revealing the thoughts, memories and dreams that lie in the visions of half sleep." Even without the concept behind it, it is simply a beauitful piece of work, both visually and aurally but throw the concept into the mix as you watch and see what you take away from it.
STATEMENT|ON|ANIMATION by Diana Reichenbach:
‘Animation’ is defined here as an audiovisual poem; it condenses meaning and communicates abstract ideas using line, shape, color, and symbols in motion. It is time-based, yet allows a viewer to perceive time that can be infinite or instant. Through Animation you create a state of being, depict an emotion or an idea. It harmonizes with sound as an audiovisual language, which is the basis of the multimedia culture we live in today. This art form contributes and is shaped by our evolving technologies and perceptions.
With the release of the astounding Route One or Die, avant garde noise rock trio Three Trapped Tigers are set to be unleashed upon aficionados' ears much like, er, three tigers that are trapped. The band favour the Battles approach of playing every instrument rather than conjuring them from synths; and their raucous live shows and a slew of festival appearances have earned them a formidable reputation as ambidextrous multi tasking musical genies. Part of their charm is that every meticulously placed note is the result of a stick hitting a skin or a string being plucked.
Their tempestuous rhythm section (who could give
Keith Moon a run for his money in the flailing arm stakes), ethereal keyboard work and epic guitar work have not been diminished by moving them into the studio. From single Noise Trade to the apocalyptic musical accompaniment, Reset, which the album closes with; this is music which will enrage and ameliorate you in one swift blow. They may tend towards the 'math rock' moniker, but unravelling the labyrinthine tempos and time scales and letting this eloquent sound drift through you like neutrinos is a rewarding experience. EyeSeeSound decided to see what makes this band tick and how they plan to continue challenging musical frontiers.
ESS: Your album Route One or Die has been rapturously received across the board, deservedly so. You have a formidable live reputation, so were you ever concerned at how the album would be received? Or were you fairly assured after the critical acclaim of your EPs? Also, how do you bring your bring your ‘live’ energy to a studio setting?
MC: I think that the only way to be happy artistically is to block out the world and do what you want, not what people expect of you. Having said that I don't think any of my favourite artists have a perfect track record so...it's ridiculous to expect that people will like absolutely everything you do.
As for the live/studio conundrum...the only aim was to avoid having the album sound as 'lab conditions' as the EPs - the main difference was that we'd rehearsed a lot before going in, whereas on the EPs we could barely play the material before getting in a studio. But it wasn't recorded all live in one room without overdubs, as some people seem to think.
TR: I agree with Matt says. Regarding reception, I try not to read any reviews but obviously it's important to me that people I know and respect like it. Regarding the live energy thing, yes that can be hard to recreate in a studio. We rehearsed hard and then pretty much recreated that setup in the studio. It's mostly about getting the drums right, after that we could take our time doing the synth parts one note at a time in the bedroom.
ESS: Bruce Springsteen and U2 have been cited as some of your more unlikely inspirations - who else inspires you that would surprise your listeners?
MC: Everything we listen to could potentially inform our stuff, but with influences it's often what you choose to omit that is as pivotal to your sound as what is included - a lot of things that we like
and are capable of doing don't feature - it'd be a different band. Inspiration is pretty different to influence though - for example, sometimes I'll listen to something and think "this isn't necessarily what I want to sound like but the guy has just thought 'fuck everyone else' and sounds really individual for it" - getting in that mindset is really rare.
TR: Yes we could list literally thousands of things that would surprise listeners. I'm often influenced by the music that I think is rubbish. It's always important for me to catch at least 3 minutes of the X Factor by mistake to remind myself why I make geeky unpopular music.
ESS: Your music is often described as IDM. One of your inspirations, Richard D. James/Aphex Twin has said “I just think it's really funny to have terms like that. It's bascially saying 'this is intelligent and everything else is STUPID.', would you agree, and does this kind of pigeonholing make youuncomfortable?
MC: On the most recent tour we were taking the piss out of all the newer genre names coming out, but obviously people like being able to make associations. To me, it's weird to think of our stuff as 'dance music' considering thecurrent trend for techy 4-to-the-floor stuff, no matter how heavy or light. It's weird to even think of us as electronic sometimes cos to me that implies certain sounds, rigid programming, samples, overt studio techniques etc, and we're so fundamentally about live playing, but happen to use synths, lots of pedals and drum effects - kinda imitating some of those elements.
TR: I agree with Matt that we're not that comfortable being pigeonholed in any way, even down to being called 'electronic' music. Of course, these days pigeonholing means less and less - that's an inevitable consequence of theinternet and the breakdown in categories. Which perversely means people want and need to make
the pigeonholes smaller and smaller. Music journalists love it, but most musicians I know find it pretty laughable. Regarding the distinction between intelligent and stupid, Aphex is right there. I'd say that a lot of his music thrives on putting deliberately stupid stuff with deliberately intelligent stuff. To me, our music has to have an emotional impact first and foremost, and if that's 'stupid' then good. But also it'd be a shame not to do something remotely challenging and interesting, and if that's 'intelligent' then so be it.
ESS: Considering you only have 12 limbs combined, how do you manage to make your live sound so layered without using a backing track or computer sequencing? Do you think you would ever be tempted to implement and experiment with these techniques?
TR: Well, it's kind of fundamental to the band that we don't do that. That is another reason to consider vocals, as it doesn't require limbs.
MC: For now it's good to limit ourselves to what we can do without all that and see what the challenge yields, but I think it could be done in a creative, interactive way, so it's not "band-aoke" as Betts likes to call it - i.e. when loads ofthe music is coming from a laptop and some people dance about playing a bit of guitar along or have live drums thatyou can't hear over the track.
ESS: I was surprised to hear that Tom (Rogerson) produced Emmy the Great's debut album, because it is quite a different aesthetic from TTT’s sound. Is production something you hope to pursue? You all have solo projects (Matt Calvert’s Evil Ex; Adam Betts’ James Taylor Quartet and Evil Ex; TomRogerson’s MA and Red Snapper) - is there a bit of a trade off between pursuing these and furthering TTT's success?
MC: Couple of corrections to start with - MA is a band that I play in led by a guy called Tom Challenger, who also plays sax in Red Snapper. None of us have played in Red Snapper. But the first band that Tom Rogerson and I playedin together in did feature Tom Challenger.
For me, there's tons of stuff I'd like to do outside of TTT, it doesn't really accommodate everything we like or are capable of - that's partly been the case in order to really
hone the sound and direction, but that is likely to evolve.
Tom formed TTT and it has gradually got to a point where the writing is about 50/50 between him and I. So, now we are quite up for doing stuff where we don't have to compromise for each other! I've always felt like I have a particular way of writing and want to explore that, cos in TTT it's been more like writing to a remit. Having concentrated on TTT for the last few years has meant that we've been able to build something, but hopefully I can build some other things cos it's not the one and only outlet for me.
TR: I'll speak for Matt here and say that production is something he's definitely interested in and that I'm definitely not interested in. On the Emmy the Great stuff, that role grew out of me being in her band in any case, so it was more of a musical thing than a sitting at the desk twiddling knobs thing. I don't have any solo projects (as Matt says, Tom Challenger is MA etc.) but I do have loads of ideas for other bands and projects including some on my own. TTT started off as one of those, so I don't see the need to 'go solo' just for the sake of it.
ESS: Your videos are awesome - especially the '6' video featuring the Japanese kids (!) show Kure Kure Takora – how involved are you in the creative concept? In the video for The Noise Trade, a robot eats the hearts of woodland critters – after the Octopus ‘dying’ in ‘6’, you seem to have something against cute animals - are you gearing up to full on, nightmarish, Aphex Twin-style visuals?
MC: Just getting the music together is so intense that to get at all involved in the videos would be exhausting - my sole contribution so far was that I didn't want the track 'Reset' edited down and that it should be an epic video, and along came Chris Boyle who embraced that! Luckily everyone who's made videos for us has had unique ideas.
ESS: You said you love placing music within its social and cultural background, how would you define TTT's cultural background?
TR: I do love doing that, but I don't particularly enjoy navel-gazing. Our current background is London where there's lots of music going on most of which sounds nothing like ours!
ESS: How did the band come together?
TR: Matt and I met through mutual friends and played together first of all just messing around in a friend's flat on a piano and laptop. Then it grew to a four-piece with drums and saxophone doing purely improvised music. After a year of that, I wanted to do more material and had an idea for a live Aphex thing, and Matt lived with Betts who'd just left his hardcore band.
ESS: If you were trapped with three tigers how do you think you would fare? Would you bust out some ninja skills, or approach the matter philosophically like in Life of Pi?
MC: Put my imaginary affinity with animals to the test and then probably die horrifically.
[Three Trapped Tigers website]
[Route One Or Die LP on spotify]
I first saw Chloe Early’s work at Stolen Space Gallery two years ago. Pictures of the young Irish artist’s work, with its colourful dreamscapes, floating bodies and its hazy sense of apocalyptic Sturm and Drang, intrigued me; but Early’s work has a formidable impact in the flesh. There have been recent arguments about how well an artist’s work is represented online and whether it actually needs to be seen in a gallery; but Early splatters paint across aluminium and coloured Perspex canvasses, and all of her pieces are on a large scale, so whilst a JPEG might impress you, it won’t show you the wonderful effect of the light playing through the perspex, the contrasting textures of the paint and surfaces and the awe which these pieces can inspire.
Early recently had her New York debut in the highly respected Joshua Liner Gallery, with a show called Feathers and Wax. The show is a continuation of her obsession with bodies suspended in motion, soft motifs such as roses and butterflies combined with foreboding elements such as torpedoes and jetliners and as always the canvasses are huge and vibrant. Early’s works have been sold out at almost every show and her fame is growing, so EyeSeeSound decided to get in on the action before America snaps her up as it’s new art star.
ESS: Firstly congratulations on your New York debut! Your most recent show at the Joshua Liner gallery was called Feathers and Wax and references the Icarus myth. Why did you choose this theme? Do you feel that your paintings have their own mythological narrative?
CE: Thank you! I’ve been interested in flight and mythology for a while so it seemed obvious to combine those two ideas, its not an illustration of the myth but I like those ideas of soaring, escaping, the promise of freedom and then also the reality of coming back down to Earth. I think Im interested in mythology because I like stories and the Greek myths are such recurring narratives within our culture and the arts.
ESS: You once stated that as a female artist you almost had to be convinced that you could pursue art as a career (as opposed to the confidence with which male artists enter the profession), at what point in your career did you feel convinced?
CE: I found the type of art world that I entered into quite male dominated and that was intimidating at first but at the same time it now seems a bit simplistic to attribute that conviction to gender, it probably has more to do with my character. In terms of being convinced I cant say, my confidence has grown but I have days still where Im not convinced it’s enough but you just have to push through those feelings and keep going.
ESS: Have you received a much different reaction to your work in the US as you have in Europe?
CE: Im not sure because its been a different stage of my work, I had done 3 solo shows in London and a couple in Dublin when I got the offers of showing in LA and NY. So my work was probably coming together more anyway at that time. I think people in LA seem to be really optimistic and positive about art which is a really nice thing.
ESS: I've always felt your paintings referenced a problematic relationship between humanity and technology and they seem to forebode an apocalyptic future, but they also seem to be the violence of the everyday world encroaching on a dream. How would you define the intention of your work?
CE: Just like that - you summed it up pretty well! What I like about painting is that you can create a world or space that has lots of freedoms and uncertainties in it, so Im not sure if my paintings are the past or the future, or a dream or a reality but by creating it becomes a way of exploring all those ideas.
ESS: There seems to be a retro futurist vibe to your work in the travel pin up girls and wartime-style artillery imagery you use. What's your research process before starting a series of paintings?
CE: Reading, thinking, photoshoots, collecting imagery, its somewhere between pre meditated and organic, I set myself a loose theme and allow myself to deviate.
ESS: You grew up in Cork in Ireland then moved to London, what effect did this have on your artistic practice and style?
CE: I think coming to London was a mind focusing experience for me, it was difficult at
first to make work as well as make money to pay the rent but it all helped in the long run and now I really know how lucky I am and that makes you more determined. I think the level of art that we are exposed to here is invaluable and its just about making the most of it and soaking up as much as possible.
ESS: Which artists have inspired you?
CE: Mark Rothko, Botticelli, Peter Doig, Chirs Ofili, Richter, Jenny Saville, there’s far far too many to name them all.
ESS: What are your plans for the next show?
CE: Im doing a show in LA next November so Im starting to think about what direction I want to take myself in after the NY show. Plans are fairly loose right now but I have a few ideas to get going with.
ESS: Are there any books or films which have had a great influence on your work?
CE: I think my favorite author is Margaret Atwood, to me she has both strong ideas and strong emotions and characters in her books. I love her slightly sci - fi post apocolyptic themes, my favorite is Oryx and Crake although I think in terms of ideas the Handmaids tale is probably her most daring, it sends a real and dramatic chill down your spine.
ESS: Your partner Conor Harrington is also an artist, is this as explosive a combination as two writers who are together or do you find you bounce ideas off each other?
CE: We bounce ideas off each other and help each other out alot so for us it’s a good mix!
The Golden Filter are an electronic band from New York. Their latest release was a soundtrack to a short film they made in collaboration with Scandinavian Director Kristoffer Borgli. The film is kind of stunning in both its execution and its subject matter, which is pleasingly random, surreal and slightly out there. I could paraphrase what it's about but it's better if you just watch it and see what you think. It is quite a dark sombre short, but utterly compelling and well worth the five minutes.
Below is the soundtrack by The Golden Filter, electronic pop, sometimes euphoric sometimes darkly tinged, which of course you can hear in the film but they made it available on soundcloud so if you want to here it independently then now you can.
Lil Daggers' eponymous debut album manages to mix the punk aesthetics of The Ramones with a nod to The Beach Boys, The Kinks and Procol Harum in the use of their 1967 Vox Continental organ; or a laconic Rolling Stones aesthetic on bluesy tracks such as Pignose and slurred Strokes style vocals filtered through Christopher Lee. However, making easy comparisons to retro references ignores the band’s skilful wielding of these tropes. Like Crystal Stilts and Dirty Beaches they have managed to avoid becoming the Instagram of music by blending scratchy production, distortion and the insistent Farfisa solos into a new kind of beast altogether; thus rending the band an inarguably interesting addition to the current scene.
Unlike the chirpy psychedelic optimism the 60s influence on their music implies and their point of origin in sunny Miami; Lil Daggers sound like the sort of thing the Scooby Doo team might encounter in a haunted house before being brutally decapitated. This is decidedly darker territory than Best Coast’s girl band ditties; when the organ kicks in, you almost expect Arthur Brown to jump out with his head on fire.
Previously showcasing their relentless psychedelic dirges on EP King Corpse; Lil Daggers’ creepiness has been much vaunted. Of all the monikers bestowed on them, the most
apt is probably swamp rock, which perfectly surmises the static from which emerges awesomely named guitarist Reuben Molinaire’s hypnotic hooks and Johnny Saraiva’s vocals floating through like some seriously miffed EVP. Track ‘Give Me The Pill’ might sound like the kind of Southern jam that signals you’re about to seem some serious vamp nipple on Tru Blood; but tracks such as ‘Ghost Herd’, which you might hear drifting from a subterranean vault in the dead of night, in your nightmares; offers the listener a truly bizarre and unique palate cleanser before resuming more coherent offerings.
Having gained a reputation for themselves on the festivalcircuit and possessing a decidedly awesome homo-erotic band t-shirt [link], this album is a curio masterful and strange enough to bring Lil Daggers deserved new fans. Although the album occasionally meanders, this adds to the sludgy quagmire of sound that gives Lil Daggers an endearing quality rarely found in more polished affairs; you can’t help but hope that their sound will become more frayed around the edges as they continue. The 60s may be dead and gone, but Lil Daggers have zombiefied its corpse and given it a snazzy new look; and its bite is more infectious than ever.
[Lil Daggers website]
[Lil Daggers label page]
[Listen to Lil Daggers LP on spotify]
The Great Malarky
Merry Profits
The gypsy folk, punk, ska, cabaret (in a dark sense, not a cheesy sense) scene tends to be one filled with brilliant, raucous, jig worthy live bands. My favourite is The Penny Black Remedy though recently The Great Malarky said hello and from the sounds of Merry Profits I reckon they're going to be as good and another fine reason to head into this underground scene and have yourself a good old evening out.
Not only do this female fronted 7-piece cut a good jig, with suitably aware social lyrics, but this song has a glorious mexican sounding horn solo, and personally i'm very partial to great use of brass in songs. I've not seen them live yet but from what i've read they are suitably exhuberant and exhillarating and to be honest I believe what I've read. They just sound like a band who do what they do well and I can imagine that no matter how much you like the single (this is from their new EP by the way) watching them play it live is going to take it to a new level.
I've no doubt they'll be hitting the festival circuit next year, so when you see their name in the programme, i'd suggest getting your arse along to the slot.
Gauntlet Hair
Keep Time
Hmmm, reverb. Lashings and lashigs of it. As if they stood at the far end of an aircraft hanger with a couple of mics at the other end. Not that it's a bad thing. In fact, this sounds great and, at least, offers something different. But it does unbalance you somewhat. Kind of batters you into a state of sonic discombobulation where you feel like you're drowning in sound and can't ascertain which way is up, where the surface is, where air is.
Denver based duo then, battering you about a bit, but like all good music masochists you're probably going to like it more than a little. Or you'll hate it, hold your nose and blow in an attempt to unblock your hearing (don't strain too hard because your ears aren't blocked and you may pop a pile if you do).
Debut album is just as relentless. I guess yes, you're either going to love this or hate it. Though even if you like it, and we really do, I'm not convinced you'll have it on continuous loop. Unless you're having a really bad day and you want to feel slightly abused whilst smiling at the same time. Which, of course, there is always a time and place for.
Internet Forever
Break Bones
Righty-o. I have limited experience with internet Forever other than finding, and loving, Pages Of Books via the Strummerville website. That's probably eons ago for these guys who appear to have evolved their lo-fi pop electronica into a far richer and fuller sound than from their early days. And that is a good thing, believe me.
They're releasing their debut album early next year and having heard three songs from it now, it looks like it's shaping up to be a corker. Hopefully we'll have a full review and interview in the next edition, but for now have a watch and listen to Break Bones... and enjoy it's glorious uplifting floatyness in anticipation of a full LPs worth soon.
One last thing, they're selling the LP on vinyl for a tenner. Well done. Expect an order from me.
Our very own Peter has started an EyeSeeSound semi-acoustic night in Hampsted with his lovely girlfriend and music collaborator Eva. Peter also plays percussion in Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Peter asked Arthur if he fancied coming along to the first gig and doing something. Arthur had of a mind to do something with his Dulcetone, so given that Peter was already there, as was Andy, double bass player for PCO and Eva's band, he said he'd do a kind of semi-jam with Pete and Andy. And it turned out to be stunning.
Some of the songs were almost jams, others loosely based upon PCO songs. The small intimate venue suited the set perfectly and to be honest the audience were entranced, and justifiably so. It was one of those random little gigs with no fanfare, that most the audience didn't know what they were getting, but
which turned out to be an exceptionally special live music moment and one which you should have been at. Second best, I guess, is watching the set here. We also fired off a few questions at Arthur, so whilst you listen to this glorious 30 minute set, you can read what he has to say about it, and the Penguins.
ESS: Firstly, can you tell us about the instrument you were playing in this live set, the Dulcetone?
AJ: It's this amazing keyboard that was I guess a Victorian version of a Fender Rhodes. It has tuning forks instead of strings – so it can’t go out of tune. I think the main point of this was to be able to play hymns in places where tuners were scarce – so rural Scotland or Borneo for instance.
ESS: Have you played with that line up before (Arthur (dulcetone), Pete (percussion), Andy (double bass) and if not how come this gig came about?
AJ: I don’t think we’ve played just us three – we play normally together in Penguin Café – my current re-incarnation of my father’s group the Penguin Café Orchestra. Pete mentioned the venue and the night a while ago and I love being able to try things out with an audience who’re up for a bit of experimentation so I signed up straight away.
ESS: For you, what do you enjoy about doing gigs like this, especially compared to the far bigger full band gigs you do as Penguin Café?
AJ: With Pete and Andy, they’re so good at what they’re playing that we can wonder off into god knows where and its probably going to be fine. Not that the big band can’t play as well – its more that with 11 people you need to have a different kind of roadmap to if there are three of you, and the smaller group can go off skirmishing with a lighter touch I guess.
ESS: Do you have any plans to explore other lineups that differ from the PCO lineup?
AJ: I’m doing an album at the moment as SundDog which is just me on piano and Oli Langford (who sometimes plays with the Penguins) on violin. We did a tour in October ending up at the QEH at Southbank – in the Purcell Room – which was really exciting. It was a challenge to just have the two of us on stage and it all be new tracks which we’d written – so no-one had heard the numbers before and if we made a mistake it was totally clear to hear.
ESS: How much of the set you did for us was Penguin Café Orchestra material and how did you approach playing it for the set?
AJ: I think 5 of the 8 were my dad’s – its just a lot of fun to play them. I really liked hearing them in the new lineup – it’s a good way to hear familiar tunes in a new way. We checked that they’d work but apart from that it was simply a matter of letting Pete and Andy have fun with them.
ESS: Penguin Café Orchestra was formed and led by your father, why did you decide to revitalise it?
AJ: I missed his music and wanted to hear it again live I think. I’d gotten together with his original band in 2007 to mark ten years since his death and while I didn’t feel we could go down that road as a permanent thing it was a lovely experience. The a year later I was asked to play some music at a small festival in Italy and took some friends and played my dad’s music. After that it was almost impossible to stop…
ESS: Apart from the obvious, do you think the band is different from before and what difference do you think that makes?
AJ: I think we’re a bit more bass-heavy, probably a bit more muscular than in my dad’s day. I think it probably is different enough that one can, as I say, see new facets of the tunes through the gaps between our styles… so to speak.
ESS: Are there going to be any new recordings with Penguin Café?
AJ: I hope so – We’ve made a couple of records already and they were a pleasure to do – some old some new material – so yes, there will, but we’ll need to wait until it feels right. That’s been central to the whole project – since we’re picking up where others left off – to make sure it feels right at the time.
ESS: You did the live set for us using a Dulcetone, which sounded kind of amazing by the way, so are there any other interesting instruments are you planning on exploring as a musician?
AJ: We’ve just been doing a track for Sundog where all the sounds come from a piano but we went for more of a Philip Glass meets Xen Cuts/Ninja Tune vibe… drumming on the underside of the soundboard and running feedback through an amp pointed at the open lid with a contact mic on the frame… very good fun.
ESS: What's happening next with the PCO?
AJ: We’re off to Australia in the new year for a tour all over ending up at WomAdelaide. I can’t wait as I’ve never been over before and the band are great to tour with…
[Penguin Café website]
[Penguin Café Orchestra wiki]
[Penguin Café Orchestra on spotify]
Tigers - Live 10/11/2011
Stick Figures In Love - Live 23/8/2011
Senator - Live 23/8/2011
Spazz - Live 23/8/2011
last word with more enthusiasm than happy hour at a “sauna”. It’s a special moment.
‘Jenny and the Ess Dog’ is an anomalous nod to previous albums. So much so that during the second encore Malkmus apologises that they’re going to play some more new stuff and he hopes it ‘isn’t a bummer’. You have to wonder what the other band members, excellent musicians and respectively from Sleater Kinney and The Joggers, feel about this quantifier.
At first it seems as though Pavement’s 2010 reunion tour has mollified those wallowing in nostalgia, but calls for 1% of One and Cut Your Hair become more persistent as the night goes on – Malkmus has spoken often about the spectre of Pavement hanging over the Jicks; and you would hope 5 albums in that the Jicks are more than a side project or plea to stay relevant.
Still the crowd banter doesn’t all philosophise on the band’s validity. Whilst talking about the backstage ‘Wall of Fame’, where Carl Barat is the only person to appear 3 times, Malkmus holds a minute of silence for Carl in lieu of remembrance day. He also waxes lyrical sarcasm about the rock and roll nature of the Camden Holiday Inn they’re staying in. Malkmus has postulated that Europeans don’t have the emotional attachment to his music as in the US because they don’t contain the kind of Americana signifiers that bands like Calexico, Modest Mouse and Lambchop do, they just play straight rock and roll, but judging by the reaction tonight this is far from the truth. ‘We’re gonna play til curfew – we’re gonna play til blood is shed’, Malkmus announces; shortly before kicking into their last song, a raucous rendition of Wild Thing. Then it is curfew and perhaps it’s a good thing because if it hadn’t been in place Malkmus might have had no choice to play until his fingers bled.
It’s not often that a band are required to do two encores, in fact it’s hard to tell how long the Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks show was actually supposed to be considering they’re still rocking away an hour after the first time they say ‘This is our last song’. However, scene veteran Malkmus has the audience in his grasp and it’s unlikely people will start checking their watches or mumbling something about ‘an early start tomorrow’ even at a Monday night gig.
Since Wowie Zowie I’ve been an avid appreciator of the band who sidled casually into the 90s’ garage indie scene. Pavement were the first band to use the word ‘docent’ in a song and Malkmus has always elicited an air of breezy surf academia. He may now spend his days playing fantasy basketball and hobnobbing with minor royals; but tonight, with casually rolled up shirt sleeves, hair artfully flopped, an enthusiastically somnambulant approach to guitar solos and a voice that mixes Mark E Smith, Lou Reed and Siri, Malkmus would bleed laid back cool even if he got a papercut on the topless page of the Cliff Richard calendar.
Malkmus and the Jicks kick off with the crowd friendly track Tigers, which opens their 5th album release Mirror Traffic. Whilst it may not yet have the acclaim of earlier Malkmus and the Jicks’ album Pig Lib and dyed in the wool Pavement fans seem to disregard the last three words in the band name, the songs are even more impressive in a live setting. ‘Brain Gallop’ is an understated ode to pent up frustration with a satisfying build up, ‘Spazz’ sees the band as full throttle as they go and ‘Stick Figures In Love’ has catchy guitar slicks that you’ll still be humming on the way home. Their single ‘Senator’, with the chorus ‘I know what the senator wants, what the senator wants IS a blowjob’ sees the entire audience yelling the
If Nina Simone's 1965 Pastel Blues LP only contained Sinnerman, with its ten minutes being side one and a smooth blank piece of vinyl on side two, this would still be a classic album. The song is that good, that exciting, that exhillarating. The fact that it is preceded by eight other beautiful and wonderful jazzy bluesy tracks simply means that you get to enjoy the album for an additional 25 minutes.
I guess my adoration of sinnerman deos songs such as her bluesy reading of Bessie Smith's Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, her beautiful cover of Billie Holiday's Tell Me More and More and Then Some laced with haunting harmonica and beautiful piano and her superb rendition of Lewis Allen's Strange Fruit, about a Klu Klux Klan lynching and painfully emotive. In fact all eight songs preceding Sinnerman are brilliant and form a coherant and flowing album... but they all lead you to Sinnerman and I can't express enough what a joy it is knowing this song is waiting for you at the end.
On the whole I pick and choose songs by Nina. Apart from her 1958 debut, Little Girl Blue, and 1967s Nina Sings The Blues, I find her albums kind of patchy and in some instances they leave me cold. Not they don't contain great moments but I like listening to an album as an album and want it to be brilliant throughout... something hard to achieve, even by the greats. Pastel Blues does that. And did I mention Sinnerman?
jules
words and interviews by Us
additional words on Lil Daggers album review, Three Trapped Tigers interview, Chloe Early interview, Stephen Malkmus live review by Kate Weir
additional words on Bill Ryder-Jones interview by fraser rieley
photos for Bill Ryder-Jones interview used by kind permission of sophie jarry [website]
many thanks to all who agreed to be featured and gave their time to make it happen
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